


Veiled Opportunity

by FlutterFyre



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-14 10:27:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29169582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlutterFyre/pseuds/FlutterFyre
Summary: When Sirius falls through the Veil during the Battle of the Ministry, he doesn’t die.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 5





	Veiled Opportunity

The tattered soot black material fluttered beneath the ancient stone arch as though caught by a nonexistent breeze. The semi-darkness of the Veil Room in the Department of Mysteries was punctuated by the flashes of spells flying between Sirius’ fellow Order members and Voldemort’s Death Eaters.

"Come on, Bella, surely even you can do better than that!" Sirius taunted as he aimed an Expulso curse at his insane cousin. The room echoed with the demented cackle of Bellatrix’s laughter as she shielded.

Moments later, she shrieked out, ”Avada Kedavra” and the brilliant green light of the Killing Curse arced towards him.

Dodging, Sirius lost his balance. Nicked by Bellatrix’s followup curse, he flailed and fell backwards towards the Veil’s cold abyss.

Harry’s scream of, “Sirius! No!” chased him as the darkness claimed him.

~~~~~

Sirius sat up in bed, panting as his eyes frantically searched the dim surroundings for Bella. For Harry. He blinked. There was no one around. He was no longer in the Department of Mysteries. No, he was back in his bedroom at Grimmauld Place. Only he wasn’t.

Peering through the darkness, he saw his permanently charmed Muggle posters were gone from the walls, as was his proud red and gold Gryffindor House decor. His Hogwarts trunk sat at the foot of his bed looking as new as the day he was sorted.

Shaking his head, Sirius tried to understand. He remembered falling into the Veil. By rights, he should be dead, not...here...

His thoughts raced as he sought an explanation for what had happened, considering and discarding possibilities with mental acuity he’d not experienced in well over a decade.

Shock and disbelief flared and he looked down at his hands. His smaller, prepubescent, eleven-year-old hands.

“Merlin,” he breathed, understanding slowly unfurling.

Untangling himself from his bedclothes, Sirius scrambled for the mirror above his dresser. He stared at himself in the predawn light, both hands rising to probe at the childish face reflected back. He was eleven years old. “How—?”

He pinched his cheeks and bit his lower lip. Hard. _Ow. Definitely not dreaming._

Turning, he saw his wand lying on the bedside table. “Accio wand.”

His wand flew into his outstretched hand. _Tempus_ , he thought and saw it was not yet six in the morning. Okay, in addition to his memories, he still had both wandless and wordless control of his magic. _Could he—?_

With a thought, he shifted into Padfoot, only to find that his paws appeared much larger than he remembered. Or maybe he was smaller?

 _Wait._ He sniffed the air. There, interwoven with the not musty but rather lived-in smell of the Black domicile from his childhood, was a scent he had almost forgotten — _Regulus!_

Sirius shifted back and lunged for the door. Tearing it open, he dashed into the hall where he fumbled briefly with the knob to Regulus’ door. Finally the latch gave and he all but fell into his younger brother’s bedroom.

“Reg, Reg, Reg,” he chanted as he leapt and landed on his brother’s bed.

“G’way, Siri. S’middle of the night!” Regulus grumbled, pulling his bedcovers over his head. 

Sirius tugged the blankets down until he could see familiar tousled Black family hair. He grinned.

_Regulus was alive!_

~~~~~


End file.
